diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjGen.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjGen.hh
index ba6e169d..19158aeb 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjGen.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjGen.hh
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 #define QPDFOBJGEN_HH
 
 #include <qpdf/DLL.h>
-#include <qpdf/QUtil.hh>
 #include <iostream>
 
 // This class represents an object ID and generation pair.  It is
@@ -69,18 +68,9 @@ class QPDFObjGen
         return gen;
     }
     QPDF_DLL
-    std::string
-    unparse() const
-    {
-        return QUtil::int_to_string(obj) + "," + QUtil::int_to_string(gen);
-    }
+    std::string unparse(char separator = ',') const;
     QPDF_DLL
-    friend std::ostream&
-    operator<<(std::ostream& os, const QPDFObjGen& og)
-    {
-        os << og.obj << "," << og.gen;
-        return os;
-    }
+    friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const QPDFObjGen& og);
 
   private:
     // This class does not use the Members pattern to avoid a memory
diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
index 292397d4..804b76c7 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
@@ -1584,7 +1584,6 @@ class QPDFObjectHandle
         bool stop_at_streams);
     void shallowCopyInternal(QPDFObjectHandle& oh, bool first_level_only);
     void releaseResolved();
-    std::string getObjGenAsStr() const;
     static void setObjectDescriptionFromInput(
         QPDFObjectHandle,
         QPDF*,
diff --git a/libqpdf/CMakeLists.txt b/libqpdf/CMakeLists.txt
index 0e450503..cf807f6d 100644
--- a/libqpdf/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libqpdf/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ set(libqpdf_SOURCES
   QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper.cc
   QPDFObject.cc
   QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+  QPDFObjGen.cc
   QPDFOutlineDocumentHelper.cc
   QPDFOutlineObjectHelper.cc
   QPDFPageDocumentHelper.cc
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
index 86a4e3d2..3b2271bc 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
@@ -1493,9 +1493,8 @@ QPDF::setLastObjectDescription(
         }
     }
     if (objid > 0) {
-        this->m->last_object_description += "object " +
-            QUtil::int_to_string(objid) + " " +
-            QUtil::int_to_string(generation);
+        this->m->last_object_description +=
+            "object " + QPDFObjGen(objid, generation).unparse(' ');
     }
 }
 
@@ -1862,8 +1861,8 @@ QPDF::readObjectAtOffset(
                 this->m->file->getName(),
                 this->m->last_object_description,
                 offset,
-                (std::string("expected ") + QUtil::int_to_string(exp_objid) +
-                 " " + QUtil::int_to_string(exp_generation) + " obj"));
+                (std::string("expected ") +
+                 QPDFObjGen(exp_objid, exp_generation).unparse(' ') + " obj"));
             if (try_recovery) {
                 // Will be retried below
                 throw e;
@@ -1898,8 +1897,8 @@ QPDF::readObjectAtOffset(
                     "",
                     0,
                     std::string(
-                        "object " + QUtil::int_to_string(exp_objid) + " " +
-                        QUtil::int_to_string(exp_generation) +
+                        "object " +
+                        QPDFObjGen(exp_objid, exp_generation).unparse(' ') +
                         " not found in file after regenerating"
                         " cross reference table"));
                 return QPDFObjectHandle::newNull();
@@ -2002,8 +2001,7 @@ QPDF::resolve(int objid, int generation)
             qpdf_e_damaged_pdf,
             "",
             this->m->file->getLastOffset(),
-            ("loop detected resolving object " + QUtil::int_to_string(objid) +
-             " " + QUtil::int_to_string(generation)));
+            ("loop detected resolving object " + og.unparse(' ')));
         return QPDF_Null::create();
     }
     ResolveRecorder rr(this, og);
@@ -2039,8 +2037,7 @@ QPDF::resolve(int objid, int generation)
                     this->m->file->getName(),
                     "",
                     0,
-                    ("object " + QUtil::int_to_string(objid) + "/" +
-                     QUtil::int_to_string(generation) +
+                    ("object " + og.unparse('/') +
                      " has unexpected xref entry type"));
             }
         } catch (QPDFExc& e) {
@@ -2050,8 +2047,7 @@ QPDF::resolve(int objid, int generation)
                 qpdf_e_damaged_pdf,
                 "",
                 0,
-                ("object " + QUtil::int_to_string(objid) + "/" +
-                 QUtil::int_to_string(generation) +
+                ("object " + og.unparse('/') +
                  ": error reading object: " + e.what()));
         }
     }
@@ -2065,10 +2061,7 @@ QPDF::resolve(int objid, int generation)
 
     std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject> result(this->m->obj_cache[og].object);
     if (!result->hasDescription()) {
-        result->setDescription(
-            this,
-            ("object " + QUtil::int_to_string(objid) + " " +
-             QUtil::int_to_string(generation)));
+        result->setDescription(this, ("object " + og.unparse(' ')));
     }
     return result;
 }
@@ -2809,8 +2802,8 @@ QPDF::pipeStreamData(
                     "",
                     file->getLastOffset(),
                     ("error decoding stream data for object " +
-                     QUtil::int_to_string(objid) + " " +
-                     QUtil::int_to_string(generation) + ": " + e.what())));
+                     QPDFObjGen(objid, generation).unparse(' ') + ": " +
+                     e.what())));
             if (will_retry) {
                 qpdf_for_warning.warn(
                     // line-break
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFAcroFormDocumentHelper.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFAcroFormDocumentHelper.cc
index ddf10e6d..62dbaeee 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFAcroFormDocumentHelper.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFAcroFormDocumentHelper.cc
@@ -991,8 +991,8 @@ QPDFAcroFormDocumentHelper::transformAnnotations(
                     } else {
                         parent.warnIfPossible(
                             "while traversing field " +
-                            obj.getObjGen().unparse() + ", found parent (" +
-                            parent_og.unparse() +
+                            obj.getObjGen().unparse(',') + ", found parent (" +
+                            parent_og.unparse(',') +
                             ") that had not been seen, indicating likely"
                             " invalid field structure");
                     }
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc
index c5f0eb2d..8af038f4 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc
@@ -947,7 +947,7 @@ QPDFJob::doShowObj(QPDF& pdf)
     }
     if (error) {
         throw std::runtime_error(
-            "unable to get object " + obj.getObjGen().unparse());
+            "unable to get object " + obj.getObjGen().unparse(','));
     }
 }
 
@@ -995,7 +995,8 @@ QPDFJob::doListAttachments(QPDF& pdf)
             auto efoh = i.second;
             *this->m->log->getInfo()
                 << key << " -> "
-                << efoh->getEmbeddedFileStream().getObjGen().unparse() << "\n";
+                << efoh->getEmbeddedFileStream().getObjGen().unparse(',')
+                << "\n";
             doIfVerbose([&](Pipeline& v, std::string const& prefix) {
                 auto desc = efoh->getDescription();
                 if (!desc.empty()) {
@@ -1010,7 +1011,7 @@ QPDFJob::doListAttachments(QPDF& pdf)
                 for (auto i2: efoh->getEmbeddedFileStreams().ditems()) {
                     auto efs = QPDFEFStreamObjectHelper(i2.second);
                     v << "    " << i2.first << " -> "
-                      << efs.getObjectHandle().getObjGen().unparse() << "\n";
+                      << efs.getObjectHandle().getObjGen().unparse(',') << "\n";
                     v << "      creation date: " << efs.getCreationDate()
                       << "\n"
                       << "      modification date: " << efs.getModDate() << "\n"
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjGen.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjGen.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e372555d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjGen.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#include <qpdf/QPDFObjGen.hh>
+
+#include <qpdf/QUtil.hh>
+
+std::ostream&
+operator<<(std::ostream& os, const QPDFObjGen& og)
+{
+    os << og.obj << "," << og.gen;
+    return os;
+}
+
+std::string
+QPDFObjGen::unparse(char separator) const
+{
+    return QUtil::int_to_string(this->obj) + separator +
+        QUtil::int_to_string(this->gen);
+}
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
index 66087dd4..b01deb6a 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
@@ -103,9 +103,8 @@ void
 CoalesceProvider::provideStreamData(int, int, Pipeline* p)
 {
     QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle coalesce provide stream data");
-    std::string description = "page object " +
-        QUtil::int_to_string(containing_page.getObjectID()) + " " +
-        QUtil::int_to_string(containing_page.getGeneration());
+    std::string description =
+        "page object " + containing_page.getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     std::string all_description;
     old_contents.pipeContentStreams(p, description, all_description);
 }
@@ -1485,13 +1484,6 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::getObjGen() const
     return QPDFObjGen(this->objid, this->generation);
 }
 
-std::string
-QPDFObjectHandle::getObjGenAsStr() const
-{
-    return QUtil::int_to_string(this->objid) + " " +
-        QUtil::int_to_string(this->generation);
-}
-
 int
 QPDFObjectHandle::getObjectID() const
 {
@@ -1556,7 +1548,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::arrayOrStreamToStreamArray(
         } else {
             all_description += ",";
         }
-        all_description += " stream " + item.getObjGenAsStr();
+        all_description += " stream " + item.getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     }
 
     return result;
@@ -1565,7 +1557,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::arrayOrStreamToStreamArray(
 std::vector<QPDFObjectHandle>
 QPDFObjectHandle::getPageContents()
 {
-    std::string description = "page object " + getObjGenAsStr();
+    std::string description = "page object " + getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     std::string all_description;
     return this->getKey("/Contents")
         .arrayOrStreamToStreamArray(description, all_description);
@@ -1674,7 +1666,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::unparse()
 {
     std::string result;
     if (this->isIndirect()) {
-        result = getObjGenAsStr() + " R";
+        result = getObjGen().unparse(' ') + " R";
     } else {
         result = unparseResolved();
     }
@@ -1789,7 +1781,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::parse(
 void
 QPDFObjectHandle::pipePageContents(Pipeline* p)
 {
-    std::string description = "page object " + getObjGenAsStr();
+    std::string description = "page object " + getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     std::string all_description;
     this->getKey("/Contents")
         .pipeContentStreams(p, description, all_description);
@@ -1813,7 +1805,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::pipeContentStreams(
             throw QPDFExc(
                 qpdf_e_damaged_pdf,
                 "content stream",
-                "content stream object " + stream.getObjGenAsStr(),
+                "content stream object " + stream.getObjGen().unparse(' '),
                 0,
                 "errors while decoding content stream");
         }
@@ -1829,7 +1821,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::pipeContentStreams(
 void
 QPDFObjectHandle::parsePageContents(ParserCallbacks* callbacks)
 {
-    std::string description = "page object " + getObjGenAsStr();
+    std::string description = "page object " + getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     this->getKey("/Contents")
         .parseContentStream_internal(description, callbacks);
 }
@@ -1837,14 +1829,15 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::parsePageContents(ParserCallbacks* callbacks)
 void
 QPDFObjectHandle::parseAsContents(ParserCallbacks* callbacks)
 {
-    std::string description = "object " + getObjGenAsStr();
+    std::string description = "object " + getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     this->parseContentStream_internal(description, callbacks);
 }
 
 void
 QPDFObjectHandle::filterPageContents(TokenFilter* filter, Pipeline* next)
 {
-    auto description = "token filter for page object " + getObjGenAsStr();
+    auto description =
+        "token filter for page object " + getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     Pl_QPDFTokenizer token_pipeline(description.c_str(), filter, next);
     this->pipePageContents(&token_pipeline);
 }
@@ -1852,7 +1845,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::filterPageContents(TokenFilter* filter, Pipeline* next)
 void
 QPDFObjectHandle::filterAsContents(TokenFilter* filter, Pipeline* next)
 {
-    auto description = "token filter for object " + getObjGenAsStr();
+    auto description = "token filter for object " + getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     Pl_QPDFTokenizer token_pipeline(description.c_str(), filter, next);
     this->pipeStreamData(&token_pipeline, 0, qpdf_dl_specialized);
 }
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc
index 6c38f098..16ab346f 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc
@@ -33,9 +33,8 @@ void
 ContentProvider::provideStreamData(int, int, Pipeline* p)
 {
     Pl_Concatenate concat("concatenate", p);
-    std::string description = "contents from page object " +
-        QUtil::int_to_string(from_page.getObjectID()) + " " +
-        QUtil::int_to_string(from_page.getGeneration());
+    std::string description =
+        "contents from page object " + from_page.getObjGen().unparse(' ');
     std::string all_description;
     from_page.getKey("/Contents")
         .pipeContentStreams(&concat, description, all_description);
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFWriter.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFWriter.cc
index d160ff99..50ec9406 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFWriter.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFWriter.cc
@@ -1990,9 +1990,8 @@ QPDFWriter::writeObject(QPDFObjectHandle object, int object_stream_index)
     if (object_stream_index == -1) {
         if (this->m->qdf_mode && (!this->m->suppress_original_object_ids)) {
             writeString(
-                "%% Original object ID: " +
-                QUtil::int_to_string(object.getObjectID()) + " " +
-                QUtil::int_to_string(object.getGeneration()) + "\n");
+                "%% Original object ID: " + object.getObjGen().unparse(' ') +
+                "\n");
         }
         openObject(new_id);
         setDataKey(new_id);
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
index 0b06a7f5..c0644532 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
@@ -130,8 +130,7 @@ QPDF_Stream::QPDF_Stream(
     setDescription(
         this->qpdf,
         this->qpdf->getFilename() + ", stream object " +
-            QUtil::int_to_string(this->objid) + " " +
-            QUtil::int_to_string(this->generation));
+            QPDFObjGen(objid, generation).unparse(' '));
 }
 
 std::shared_ptr<QPDFObject>
@@ -196,8 +195,7 @@ std::string
 QPDF_Stream::unparse()
 {
     // Unparse stream objects as indirect references
-    return QUtil::int_to_string(this->objid) + " " +
-        QUtil::int_to_string(this->generation) + " R";
+    return QPDFObjGen(objid, generation).unparse(' ') + " R";
 }
 
 JSON
@@ -643,8 +641,7 @@ QPDF_Stream::pipeStreamData(
                 // part of a library user, not by invalid input data.
                 throw std::runtime_error(
                     "stream data provider for " +
-                    QUtil::int_to_string(this->objid) + " " +
-                    QUtil::int_to_string(this->generation) + " provided " +
+                    QPDFObjGen(objid, generation).unparse(' ') + " provided " +
                     QUtil::int_to_string(actual_length) +
                     " bytes instead of expected " +
                     QUtil::int_to_string(desired_length) + " bytes");
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_encryption.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_encryption.cc
index 5a7968ca..95d5ea37 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_encryption.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_encryption.cc
@@ -1176,8 +1176,7 @@ QPDF::decryptString(std::string& str, int objid, int generation)
             this->m->last_object_description,
             this->m->file->getLastOffset(),
             "error decrypting string for object " +
-                QUtil::int_to_string(objid) + " " +
-                QUtil::int_to_string(generation) + ": " + e.what());
+                QPDFObjGen(objid, generation).unparse() + ": " + e.what());
     }
 }